Two Centuries of Chinese Heritage Project at UWA takes a biographical approach by weaving snippets from historical sources to uncover stories about Chinese people who came to Western Australia. In addition to a publicly accessible research portal, the project will also involve a series of podcasts, an exhibition, events and a book.
This series of articles profiles many surprising stories being discovered and recorded as part of this history project.
In this story we examine:
The First Chinese Western Australian – Chow Moon
by Benjamin Smith and Yu Tao
Well-Known early settlers of Western Australia are almost all of Anglo-Australian heritage, but amongst them was one Chinese man Chow Moon. He arrived in 1830, just one year after the founding of the Colony. The Chinese convention is to place the family name before the first name, so his family name was Chow, even though many historical sources refer to him as Moon Chow.
Although Chow Moon does not appear on any official shipping registers, a diary entry from James McDermott, captain of the Emily Taylor proves that Chow Moon arrived in Fremantle via Bombay. Chinese men being employed in Asian port cities such as Bombay, and particularly Singapore in later decades, is a common characteristic of nineteenth century Asian migration.
Chow Moon was a carpenter – a skill much in demand in the early years of the fledgling colony. He was employed to work for Henry W. Reveley, the first civil engineer and director of public works in Perth. Reveley worked on buildings such as the Round House in Fremantle and the original Courthouse in Perth. As such, it’s possible that some of Chow Moon’s carpentry is still extant in the windows and doors of our oldest buildings. Later, Chow Moon went on to become a boat builder.

Chow Moon married Mary Thorpe, a woman of English heritage, on December 14, 1847. Their marriage was possibly the first legally sanctioned interracial marriage in Western Australia. They had four children, though not all survived infancy. The confusion of Chinese naming conventions was carried through to Chow Moon’s children who all took the name ‘Moon’ as their surname. Given discrimination against Asian settlers at the time, this may have been a deliberate decision to adopt a more English-sounding name.
Chow Moon was also amongst the first non-English settlers to purchase land in Western Australia. An early map from the 1860s shows that he purchased a plot in Guildford, but there is no evidence that he developed it. Later it became almost impossible for Chinese Western Australians to own land.
Tragically, Chow Moon died on June 13 1877 after being struck by a mail van in Fremantle. His death led to the introduction of speed limits and the requirement for lights on vehicles at night, a lasting legacy of a fascinating individual.
Chow Moon is remembered in the Welcome Walls at the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle, a promenade in Northbridge and his story has been celebrated in local theatre productions and even inspired the names of restaurants in Perth.
Interested readers are encouraged to explore the UWA research database and other aspects of the project at: www.chinesewa.net/.
As research material is being added constantly, the project team would love to hear from anyone with information about early Chinese migrants.